FURMAN 
Address, 


'^SiM 


ADDUE  SS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 
f  O 


THE  QUEENS   COUNTY 


AGEICULTUEAL  SOCIETY, 


AT  ITS 


TKIOIE©  ^^^OVir^i^^Y, 


AT 


JAMAICA, 


Thursday)  October   lOtli,  1§44. 


BY  GABRIEL  FURMAN. 


JAMAICA: 

PRINTED  AT  THE  OFFICE  OF  "thE  LONG  ISLAND  FARMER,'' 

BY   C.   S.    WATROUS. 

1845. 


Jericho,  October  29th,  1844. 

Hon   G.  Fueman: 

My  Dear  Sir:  At  a  meeting  of  the  Managers  of  the  Queens  County 
Agricultural  Society,  held  on  the  10th  inst.,  the  following  resolution  was 
adopted : 

"  Resdved  unanimously:  That  we  tender  to  the  Hon.  G.  Furman  our  most 
"sincere  thanks  for  the  able  and  interesting  Address,  so  rich  in  histori- 
"cal,  scientific,  and  agricultural  facts  —  which  he  has  this  day  delivered 
*'  before  our  Society ;  and  that  we  most  respectfully  request  he  will  fur- 
"nish  a  copy  for  publication." 

In  discharging  the  very  agreeable  duty  of  transmitting  to  you  a  copy  of 
this  resolution,  I  can  but  express  the  hope  entertained,  not  only  by  the 
officers  of  the  Society,  but  by  all  who  heard  the  Address,  that  you  will 
comply  with  this  request. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  very  respectfully. 
Your  obedient  servant, 
Albert  G.  Carll,  Corresponding  Secretary. 


Brooklyn,  March  24th,  1845. 
Albert  G.  Carll,  Esq.,  Ccrrespcmding  Secretary,  etc. 

Dear  Sir:  In  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Queens  Col^ty  Ag- 
ricultural Society,  I  transmit  to  you  a  copy  of  the  Address  delivered 
before  them  at  their  last  Anniversary,  for  publication. 

You  will  please  accept  my  thanks  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you 
signified  to  me  the  wish  of  the  Society  in  that  respect. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  yours,  very  respectfully, 

G.  Furman. 


ADDRESS. 


The  formation  of  this  Society  to  improve  the  Agricul- 
ture of  our  Island,  manifests  in  itself  the  opinion  you 
entertain  of  its  importance,  and  renders  it  almost,  if  not 
quite,  unnecessary  to  call  your  attention  to  the  usefulness 
and  high  value  of  advanced  knowledge  in  this  main  pur- 
suit of  life. 

'It  can  only  be  requisite  to  remind  you  that  the  cultiva- 
tion or  the  earth  is  that  means  of  employment,  above  all 
others,  of  which  the  Deity,  ih  his  wasdomj,  has  expressed  a 
decided  approbation— in  showing  us  that  tHe  cultivation 
of  a  garden,  with  the  enjoyment  of  its  fruits  and  flowers, 
were  the  occupation  and  reward  of  man,  when  most  per- 
fect and  in  a  state  of  primitive  innocence ;  and  it  is  not  a 
little  remarkable,  and  may,  indeed,  be  regarded  as  a  strong 
internal  evidence  of  the  truth  of  that  narrative  of  the  pri- 
meval condition  of  the  human  race,  that  a  cultivated  mind 
and  innocent  heart  still  receive  high  pleasure  from  the 
same  pursuit. 

Agriculture  is  truly  the  parent  of  all  science, .  uniting 
men  by  the  bonds  of  civil  society,  who,  without  its  aid, 
would  continue  to  be  wandering  savages,  as  we  may  wit- 
ness, duly  substantiated,  upon  the  frontiers  of  our  country, 
in  the  various  stages  of  human  life,  from  the  roving  Indian, 
who  subsists  by  the  chase,  through  the  first  organization 
of  communities,  where  they  throw  off  the  habits  of  the 
hunter  state,  with. its  precarious  means  of  living,  for  the 
certain  recompense  arising  from  the  culture  of  the  soil,  up 
to  the  regular  farmer,  who  tills  hundreds  of  acres  for  the  pro- 
duction of  grain.  This  cause,  the  great  and  paramount  im- 
portance of  agriculture,  its  effects  iri  humanizing  the  world, 
induced  the  ancients  to  worship  it  under  the  semblance  of 
Ceres,  Pomona,  etc.,  to  deify  the  inventors  of  the  plough, 
and  other  means  of  culture,  and  to  represent  the  enjoy- 
ment of  rural  happiness  and  pursuits  as  the  perfection  of 
theii:  golden  age.  This  honour  and  reverence  for  the 
parent  science  have  not  been  confined  to  particular  nations, 
but  has  extended  over  the  whole  world,  wherever  the  soil 
has  been  turned  up  and  prepared  for  the  receipt  of  the  seed, 
and  its  attendant  blessings  have  ever  been  experienced. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  look  beyond  our  own  hem- 
i^^phere  for  striking  evidences  of  high  ancient  cultivation, 
and  the  advantages  which  resulted  to  the  community  from. 


6 

its  practice  long  anterior  to  the  discovery  of  America  by 
the  Spaniards  ;  Peru,  Central  America,  and  Mexico  up  to 
the  Southern  boundary  of  the  United  States  were  under  a 
a  state  of  cultivation,  far,  very  far,  superior  to  any  thing 
which  either  of  those  countries  have  witnessed  since  their 
European  occupation. 

Numerous  wild  and  arid  plains,  which  have  not  now  for 
ages  produced  ahead  of  grain,  and  some  of  them  scarcely  a 
blade  of  grass,  were  then  tilled  like  gardens  :  the  nume- 
rous terraced  hills,  and  even  mountains,  the  frequent  re- 
mains of  canals  and  aqueducts  for  the  purposes  of  irriga- 
tion, all  show  the  high  advance  which  that  ancient  people 
had  made  in  the  art  of  cultivating  the  earth.  The  result  of 
all  this  was  an  immense  population,  living  in  ease  and 
comfort,  of  which  the  earliest  Spanish  accounts,  compared 
with  what  they  are  now,  or  have  been  at  any  time  during 
the  last  two  centuries,  almost  appear  like  fables,  and 
would  truly  be  considered  as  such,  but  for  the  corrobora- 
tion which  they  receive  from  the  numerous  architectural 
and  other  remains  scattered  over  the  whole  country,  to  an 
extent  which  is  truly  surprising. 

So,  also,  when  the  Northmen  visited  this  Island  and  the 
adjacent  Continent,  between  the  years  986  and  1100, 
they  found  the  Indian  corn  growing,  and  the  grape  in 
abundance, — evidences  showing  a  previous  cultivation  of 
the  soil, — it  will  be  observed,  that  I  speak  of  the  visit 
of  the  Northmen  to  this  part  of  our  country  as  a  question 
positively  settled.  I,  in  truth,  regard  it  in  that  light.  A 
careful  examination  of  the  subject  will  show  that  their 
description  of  the  productions  of  the  country,  the  length 
of  the  day,  and  the  appearance  of  the  coast  coincide  in  a 
remarkable  manner  w-ith  the  United  States,  and  with  no 
other  country  in  the  known  world.  Thus  their  Helluland 
is  Newfoundland,  even  yet  remarkable  for  its  naked,  rocky 
barrens,  where  not  a  tree  or  a  shrub  can  grow ;  their 
Markland,  with  its  forests  and  white  sandy  cliffs,  is  Nova 
Scotia ;  and  their  Vinland,  so  called  from  its  grapes  and 
fruits,  IS  the  country  from  Massachusetts  to  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay.  Their  voyages  in  the  year  1000,  (four  hun- 
dred years  before  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus)  describe 
an  Island,  on  which  they  landed,  w^hich  is  evidently  our 
Long  Island  ;  the  soil  fertile,  the  air  mild,  and  numerous 
shrubs  bearing  sweet  berries :  after  passing  this  Island, 
they  entered  a  river  stored  with  salmon  and  other  fish, 
(which  is  also  Hudson's  description  of  the  North  River,) 
where  they  wintered.  Another  and  almost  conclusive  fact 
is,  that  they  state,  that  during  the  shortest  day  the  sun 
was  above  the  horizon  from  dagmal  to  eikt,  that  is  from 
7^  A.  M.  to  4^  p.  M. ;  which  makes  the  day  equal  to  nine 


hours,  and  consequently tho  hititude  oftlie  phice  as  near  that 
of  the  city  of  Neu-Vork,  as  well  as  could  be  ascertained 
at  that  time.  Verazzano,  who  visited  this  region  in 
1524,  almost  200  years  before  Hendrick  Hudson's  first 
voyage  on  the  North  River,  and  whose  description,  Dr. 
Samuel  Miller,  a  most  able  authority  on  such  matters,  re- 
garded as  applicable  to  the  Bay  and  Harbour  of  New- 
York,  states  that  he  found  many  grapes  grow'ing  with  the 
vines  entwined  around  the  trees,  and  running  up  on  them, 
as  in  the  plains  of  Lorabardy. 

He  also  states  that  they  must  have  been  held  in  estima- 
tion, as  the  people  carefully  removed  the  shrubbery  from 
around  them,  to  allow  the  fruit  to  ripen  better,  indicating 
the  relics  of  ancient  cultivation.  He  also  found  "  wild 
roses,  violets,  lilies,  and  many  kinds  of  plants  and  frag- 
rant flowers,"  different  from  those  of  Europe.  You  will 
not  fail  to  recognize  the  similarity  between  the  description 
of  the  country  and  that  of  the  Northmen  between  4  and 
500  years  earlier.  That  this  is  the  region  indicated  in 
those  very  early  voyages,  and  the  Vinhmd  of  the  Northmen 
is  rendered  the  more  certain  from  the  tirst  history  of  New 
Amsterdam,  now  New-York,  by  Vanderdonck,  printed  at 
Antwerp,  in  1650,  which  describes  the  whole  country  on 
this  Island,  and  about  New-York,  as  being,  when  settled 
by  the  Dutch,  "full  of  many  kinds  of  grapes."  Speaking 
of  these  grapes,  the  author  also  observes  :  "  It  is  gratify- 
ing and  wonderful  to  see  these  natural  productions, 
and  to  observe  such  excellent  and  lovely  fruit  growing 
wild  :"  and  he  further  remarks,  that  "  the  country,  when 
the  vines,  are  in  bloom  is  perfumed  with  the  lovely  fragrance 
of  the  blossoms,  and  it  is  delightful  to  travel  at  this  season 
of  the  year."  What  a  beautiful  description  is  this  of 
our  own  land,  w'hen  in  its  forest  state !  We  could 
almost  W'ish  to  have  lived  in  that  early  age,  if  it 
was  only  to  stroll  along  the  bridle  roads  and  the  In- 
dian paths  to  inhale  the  lovely  fragrance  of  the  grape 
blossoms  in  the  Spring.  This  portion  of  our  country, 
and  especially  Long  Island,  is  celebrated  in  all  the  an- 
cient historical  works  treating  of  New- York  or  the  Mid- 
dle Colonies,  for  its  rich,  natural  covering  of  flowers, 
and  its  exuberance  of  fruits.  In  Denton's  account,  print- 
ed at  London,  in  1670,  the  first  W9rk  describing  the  Colo- 
nies of  New-York  and  New  Jersey  in  the  English  lan- 
guage, a  considerable  portion  is  occupied  with  a  beautiful 
picture  of  this  Island,  which  he  styles  a  natural  garden;  and 
of  the  parties,  which  we  now  call  Pic  J\''ics,  which  at  that 
early  period  made  frequent  excursions  through  its  verdant 
'fields  to  gather  and  eat  the  wild  strawberries  and  other 
fruits,  then  existing  in  profuse  abundance.     No  one  could 

b2 


8 

be  more  competent  to  a  faithful  description  of  Long  Island 
than  this  author,  for  he  was  many  years  an  inhabitant  of 
this  Island,  and  from  1656  to  about  1669  resided  in  the 
town  of  Jamaica,  where  we  are  now  assembled,  whiqli 
tojvji  he  represented  in  the  first  Legislative  Assembly  .<?/. 
th*e  Colony  of  New-York,  held  under  the  English  Govern- 
ment, in  the  year  1665  j  whi^h  Assembly  met  at  Hemp- 
stead, in  this  county. 

I  have  thought  the  preceding  facts,  exhibiting  a  con- 
densed view  of  the  early  condition  of  our  own  land, 
might  not  be  uninteresting.  But  whatever  may  be  said  of 
the  high  advance  in  agriculture  and  many  of  the  arts, 
ma^e  by  the  ancient  inhabitaiLts  of  Mexico,  Central  Ame- 
rica and  Peru,  yet  it  must  be  admitted,  that  our  Colonial 
condition  was  not  propitious  to  the  cultivation  of  science  : 
out  forefathers  had  great  cind  peculiar  difficulties  to  sur- 
mount, a  W'ilderness  to  subdue,  their  physical  wants  |o 
provide  for,  their  personal  and  public  rights  to  se- 
cure, and  the  foundations  of  government' to  settle: — : 
and  we  are  now  realizing  the  benefits  resulting  from 
their  most  arduous  labours,-  fcora  their  immense '  sacri- 
fices of  personal .  cpmfort,  of  domestic/^  endearments,  of 
wealth  and  even  of  life  itself— sacrifices  which  should  en^ 
dear  their  memories  to  us,  and  teach  us  to  truly  estimate 
the, privileges  which  they  purchased  for  t)ieir  descendants 
at  such  a  cost — learn  us  never  to  trifle  wath  the  true  in- 
terests of  our  country,  nor  to  permit  others  to  do  so. 
After  their  exertions  nothing  seems  to  be  wanting  among 
us  to  promote  the  progress  of  science,  but  the  aid  and 
sympathy  of  the  public  ;  this  encouragement  is  especially 
due  to  every  attempt  similar  to  the  objects  designed  by 
this  Association — to  draw  down  science  from  lofty  abstrac- 
tion to  practical  use,  and  bring  it  home  to  men's  business 
and  firesides. 

The  diffusion  of  knowledge  is  closely  connected  with 
the  happiness  of  society,  and  with  the  permanent  prosperity 
and  true  glory  of  our  common  country'.  It  appeals  power- 
fully to  the  wise  and  the  good,  to  those  noble  minds  who  la- 
bour not  only  for  themselves,  but  also  for  posterity.  In  no 
land  under  theface  of  the^un  can  such  exertionsbe  attended 
with  more  immediate  benefits,  more  enlarged  and  valuable 
results,  than  that  in  which  it  is  our  happy  lot  to  dwell.  ■ 

The  land  we  inhabit  is  of  vast  extent,  possessing  every 
variety  of  soil  and  climate,  and  abounding  with  all  the  najl- 
ural  advantages  for  a  free,  prosperous,  and  happy  people. 
The  increase  of  our  population  has  as  yet  found  no  resis- 
tance in  the  want  of  the  means  of  subsistence;  its 
tide  is  iuow  swelling  and  overflowing  in  every  direction, 
\^i^l^, a, rapidity  which  has  no  equal  in  the  kingdoms  of 


nations  of  the  old  world.     But  this  rapid  increase  of  num- 
bers will  not  be  attended  with  a  correspondent  increase  of 
public  tranquillity  and  happiness  unless  the  region  of  the 
intellect   is   cultivated,  as  well  as  that  which  yields   a 
supply  to  our  physical  wants :  the  wants  of  man  are  not 
restricted  to  his  b6dy;  his  s^l  is  filled  with  aspirations 
after  knowledge  and  faihe,  \mh  an '  insatiable  thirst  for 
happiness,  which  seeks  for  its  gratification,  not  in  the  en- 
joyments of  sense,  but  in  the  cultivation  of  the  powers  of 
his  intellectual  and  moral  nature.     The  sentiments  of  pa- 
triotism are  not  merely  associated  with  the  soil  on  which  we 
drew  our  first  breath  of  life,  but  are  made  up  of  the  recollec- 
lectjons  of  the  great  men  our  country  has  produced,  of  their 
heroic  and  beneficent  actions,  of  affection  for  its  institutions 
and  its  fame.  This  sentiment  should  be  cherished  and  invig- 
orated by  associating  with  it  an  enlightened  love  of  freedom, 
a.  taste  for  knowledge,  and  an  ardent  enthusiasm  for  those 
arts,  which  lend  to  human  existence  its  enjoyments. 
'.  Could  the  future  glories  of  our  country  be  spread  before 
our  astonished  vision,  could  we  but  for  a  moment  lift  the 
dark  veil,, and  look  in  upon  the  mighty  nation,  the  thous- 
ands,  and   tens,  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  who   will 
swarm    in   the    wide   spreading,   fruitful    valleys   of   the 
West,    could   we  view   the  great  nation  which  will,   at 
some   future  time,  extend  its  borders  from   the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  witness  the  immense  trade  of 
a  -world  coming  into  this  land,  both  from  the  East  and 
th'6  West,  could  we  now  read  the  future  history  of  our 
country,  of  the  fie»ce  struggles  of  contending  partizans,  of 
the  contests  for  different  principle^  of  governmental  action, 
of  the  threatened  dangers  to  our   institutions,    could  we 
have  futurity  opened  to  us,  but  for  a  moment,  and  in  the 
vision  see,  all  this,  or  a  part  of  it — we  should  then  know 
the  great  truth,  that  all   the  happiness   and    prosperity 
which   awaits   our  country,   depends   upon   the    suprem- 
acy  of  the   mind,   on   the    cultivation   of   the   intellect, 
on  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  not  merely  to  a  chosen 
few,  but  to  that  immense   multitude,   who   are  at  once 
invested   with   the   privileges  of  freemen,    and  the  pre- 
rogatives of  power,  and  we  would  feel  it  a  religious  duty 
to  exert  ourselves  to  the  uttermost  in  carrjang  out  that 
great  and  noble  object — the  education  of  a  whole  people. 
No  one  branch  of  human  industry  owes  more  to  science 
thap  does  agriculture  in  our  day;   and,  permit  me,  my 
fellow-citizens,  to  congratulate .  you  on  the   advance   of 
science  in  this  respect  in  our  land.     It  was  but  a  few 
short  years  since,  that  it  was  esteemed  no  slight  reproach 
to  style  a  man,  "  a  hook-read  farmer  /"  but  who  is  there 
now  among  you,  let  me  ask,  who  does  not,  in  the  in- 

b3 


10 

creased  amount  ofhib  crops,  in  their  advanced  value,  in 
their  comparative  fease  of  culture,  in  tfte  facilities  of  a 
market,  and  in  numerous  other  results,  se^.the  benefits,  the 
open  palpable  advantages  of  book  learnjhg  applied  to  ag- 
riculture, and  yet,  with  all  these  advantages,  we  have  only 
taken  the  first  step  in  the  ejcq^d  march.'^f  agdcultural  im- 
provement. The  prospedKe-ida.enSfits  to  result  from  the 
application  of  science  to  agriculture  is  not,  however,  a  new 
idea  or  of  modern  invention.  Many  of  our  ancestors  were 
fully  impressed  with  the  belief  of  its  truth,  and  adopted  a 
plan,  somewhat  analagous  to  your  own,  for  its  develop- 
ment ;  they,  also,  formed  associations,  having  for  their  ob- 
ject the  improvement  of  this  most  valuable  pursuit.  A  so- 
ciety, for  that  purpose,  was  organized  in  New-York,  in 
1763,  combining  among  its  members,  the  most  talented 
and  distinguished  men  in  the  Colony  ;  among  whom  were 
Charles  W.  Apthorp,  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  for  a 
long  time  a  distinguished  man  in  America;  William  Smith, 
the  historian  of  New-York ;  Walter  Rutherford ;  John 
Morin  Scott,  afterwards  one  of  the  first  Major-Generals 
in  the  American  Revolution  ;  and  James  Duane,  the  cele- 
brated banker  of  New-York.  In  their  circular,  which 
they  issued  under  the  date  of  December  10,  1764,  they 
commence  by  stating  :  "  A  very  laudable  spirit  for  promo- 
ting the  welfare  of  this  Colony  begins  to  prevail  here, 
- — [New-York  City] — a  society  is  already  formed,  consis- 
ting of  persons  of  all  ranks,  who  propose  to  advance  hus- 
bandry, promote  manufactures,  and  suppress  luxury.  Sev- 
eral hundred  pounds  are  already  subscri|3ed,  and  paid  into 
the  hands  of  Mr.  John  Vanderspeigel,  the  treasurer ;  the 
society  have  thought  fit  'to  name  us  to  be  a  committee  of 
correspondence  with  all  those  gentlemen  at  a  distance, 
who  may  be  willing  to  lend  their  aid  for  the  general  weal 
of  the  Colony."  After  stating  the  manner  of  subscription, 
and,  "  that  no  subscription  under  twenty  shillings  will  be 
received,"  and,  "that  a  subscription  of  five  pounds  entitles 
the  subscriber  to  vote  in  the  disposal  of  the  funds,"  they 
proceed  to  urge  the  formation  of  a  society  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  persons  addressed,  in  order  to  correspond  with 
the  parent  association  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  to 
furnish  useful  hints  in  relation  to  wl)at  branches  of  hus- 
bandry ought  to  be  encouraged,  and  for  what  manufactures 
premiums  ought  to  be  given  ;  and,  in  general,  to  suggest 
all  manner  of  proposals  that  may  be  for  the  public  benefit, 
in  arts,  manufactures,  agriculture,  and  economy."  And 
they  conclude,  by  observing,  "  you  may  be  assured  that  a 
proper  respect  will  be  paid  to  your  schemes,  hints,  and 
proposals,  and  that  they  will  be  regularly  communicated 
to  the  society  at  their  monthly  conventions," 


11 

This  circular  was  printed,  and  each  of  them  subscribed 
by  the  different  members  of  the  committee,  in  their  own 
proper  hand-writing.  I  have  one  of  them  of  the  date  be- 
fore mentioned,  thus  subscribed,  irorn  which  the  foregoing 
extracts  are  made. 

This  association  was  very  useful  in  its  day,  and  from  its 
history,  is  intimately  connected  with  our  Island ;  it  there- 
fore requires  no  excuse  for  adverting  to  it  on  this  occasion. 
I  find,  from  an  inspection  of  its  proceedings,  that  at  a 
meeting,  held  at  the  city  of  New-York,  December  21st, 
1767,  that  Society  awarded  to  Thomas  Young,  of  Oyster 
Bay,  in  this  county,  a  premium  of  <£T0,  for  a  nursery  of 
27,123  apple  trees,  and,  at  the  same  meeting,  certificates 
were  received  and  read  from  Joshua  Clark  and  Francis 
Furnier,  both  of  Suflldk  county,  stating  that  from  the  year 
1762  to  April  1st,  1767,  Clark  had  set  out  3200  grape 
vines,  and  that  Furnier  had  in  the  same  time  set  out  1551 
grape  vines;  the  description  of  grape  is  not  specified,  but 
the  matter  was  deemed  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  cer- 
tified by  this  Society  to  a  similar  association  in  London,  in 
order  that  those  gentlemen  might  there  obtain  a  premium. 
The  New- York  Society  also  speak  of  the  business  of 
raising  silk  worms,  and  of  silk  throwing,  as  about  being 
then  established  in  the  Colony. 

This  was  the  only  association  of  the  kind  in  this  State, 
previous  to  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  contest.  After 
the  termination  of  that  eventful  contest,  an  association  was 
incorporated  in  this  State,  under  the  style  of  the  "Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture,  Arts,  and  Manufactures," 
which  continued  in  operation  until  May  4,  1804,  when  it 
expired  by  the  limitation  in  its  charter,  and  the  books, 
papers,  moneys,  and  effects  passed  over  by  Legislative  au- 
thority to  the  "  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Useful  Arts," 
incorporated  April  2,  1804,  and  of  which  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston was  the  first  President;  and  Ezra  L'Hommedieu,  of 
Suffolk  county,  the  first  Vice  President.  This  last  associ- 
ation, together  with  the  Albany  Lyceum  of  Natural  His- 
tory, which  was  established,  "for  the  purpose  of  encoura- 
ging the  study  and  disseminating  a  knowledge  of  Natural 
History,  and  other  useful  sciences,"  became  merged,  in 
1829,  in  the  Albany  Institute,  which  still  exists.  There 
were  at  various  periods,  previous  to  the  commencement  of 
the  present  century,  many  enlightened  individuals,  who 
exerted  all  their  influence,  both  personally  and  in  associ- 
ation with  others,  to  advance  the  cause  of  agriculture,  yet 
science  made  but  small  advances  to  its  aid  ;  there  were 
popular  prejudices  to  be  overcome,  which  required  ages  of 
patient  toil  in  those  worthy  souls,  who  live  for  the  gene- 
ral cood,     Hartliff,  who  was  the  friend  of  Milton,  and  who 


12 

was  pensioned  by  Cromwell  for  his  agricultural  writings, 
states  that  old  men,  in  his  day,  remembered  the  first  gar- 
deners, who  came  over  to  Surrey,  in  England,. and  sold 
turnips,  carrots,  parsnips,  early  peas,  and  rape  seed,  which 
were  then  great  rarieties,  being  imported  from  Holland. 
Potatoes  were  first  carried  from  America  to  England  about 
the  year  1563,  but  they  were  not  much  known  there  until 
about  forty  years  after,  and  they  continued  for  nearly  a 
century  to  be  cultivated  in  gardens  as  a  curious  exotic,  and 
furnished  a  luxury  only  for  the  tables  of  the  richest  persons 
in  the  kingdom.  It  appears  in  a  MS.  account  of  the  house- 
hold expenses  of  Queen  Anne,  the  wife  of  King  James  I, 
of  England,  that  the  price  of  potatoes  was  then  one  shil- 
ling sterling  a  pound,  about  22  cents  of  our  currency. 

The  potatoe  was  long  used  in  other  portions  of  Europe, 
before  it  was  generally  adopted  in  France ;  so  strong  are 
the  prejudices  of  mankind,  even  in  matters  of  the  greatest 
moment.  The  French  proscribed  it  because  they  imagined 
that  various  disorders  were  occasioned  by  its  use,  and  it 
was  more  than  two  hundred  years  before  the  popular  pre- 
judices in  that  country  were  entirely  overcome,  and  then 
only  through  the  instrumentality  of  that  celebrated  and 
distinguished  chemist,  Parmentier.  During  the  war  of 
1756,  he  was  surgeon  in  the.  army  of  Hanover,  and  was 
taken  prisoner ;  whilst  in  prison  he  frequently  had  no 
other  food  than  the  potatoe  ;  he  analyzed  the  qualities  of 
the  root,  and  on  his  return  to  Paris,  after  the  Peace  of 
1763,  he  pursued  his  investigations  with  increased  zeal. 
The  dearth  of  the  year  1769,  called  the  attention  of  the 
French  minister  to  the  vegetables,  which  were  calculated 
to  supply  the  place  of  bread  and  corn, — and  the  Potatoe 
was  attempted  to  be  introduced :  the  old  clamor  revived, 
and- it  was  again  proscribed,  and  would  have  been  rejects 
ed  as  poisonous,  if  Parmentier  had  not  vindicated  its  cha- 
racter and  usefulness  in  a  prize  essay,  submitted  to  the 
Academy  of  Besancon ;  his  exertions  did  not  stop  hexe| 
he  cultivated  it  himself,  and  persuaded  the  nobility  to  put 
it  on  their  tables,  and  induced  the  king  to  wear  a  boquet/of 
potatoe  blossoms  at  a  Levee,  or  on  a  solemn  Fast  Day. 
He  also  studied  the  most  palatable  mode  for  its  culinary 
preparation,  and,  on  one  occasion,  gave  a  dinner  consisting 
of  potatoes  only,  served  up  in  twenty  different  forms. 
The  opposition  he  met  with  may  be  estimated  from  the 
fact,  that  when,  during  the  French  Revolution,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  elect  him  to  a  municipal  office,  he  was  opposed 
on  the  aground,  that  "  he  would  make  the  common  people 
eat  nothing  but  potatoes :''  "for,"  said  one  of  the  voters^ 
"  it  is  he  who  invented  them.''  But  his  favourite  vegetable 
came  into  general  use,  and  with  complete  success,  and  he 


had  the  gratification,  in  his  old  age,  of  seeing  whole  districts 
formerly  barreny  fertilized  and  ^rendered  habitable,  and 
great'  n-umbers  of  people,  through  his  instrumentality, 
saved' ftbm  the  horrors  of  famine.*  ■  ;   -•     • 

I  have  introduced  this  short  history  of  the  potatoeto  ex- 
hibit to  your  view,  the  astonishing  iorce  of  popular- preju- 
dice, and  how  necessary  it  is  for  us  to  guard  against  ityand 
not  prejudge  any  thing  of  moment,  or  form  an  opinion  upon 
any  matter  of  importance,  without  a  fair  and  candid  exami- 
nation. Here  was  the  potatoe,  a  most  important  article  of 
food,  and  now  forming  a  most  valuable  addition  to  the 
means  of  subsistence  for  the  w'orld,  totally  excluded  from 
France,  and  proscribed  as  poisonous  for  a  period  extending 
from  1563  down  to  within  the  last  sixty  years. 

All  that  had  been  done  for  the  cause  of  science,  -during- 
the  past  three  centuries,  will,  howevier,  scarcely  beat  a 
comparison  with  what  has  been  effected  within  the  last 
half  century;  indeed,  the  discoveries  and  improvements; 
made  in  the  mechanical  arts  since  the  year  1814,  'have' 
been  really  astonishing,  and  they  are  now  working  a 
mighty  revolution  in  the  affairs  of  this  world,  most 
^rtainly  and  surely  ;  they  may  be  estimated  as  follows  f 
^  In  1816,  printing  by  steam  power;  stereotype  plates^ 
the  circular  saw ;  sugar  from  beet  roots  ;  anthracite  coal$' 
lithographic  impressions.  "'i 

In  1817,  musical  boxes.  ■:'! 

In  1820,  safety  lamps;  chain  cables  of  iron.  ■' 

In  1832,  the  chrononieter  perfected ;  power  looms  fo^ 
cloths,  stockings,  etc.;  the  stomach-pump,  (an  invention: 
which  has  saved  the  lives  of  thousands,  and  thereforeji 
worthy  of  special  notice) ;  railways  ;  locomotive  steam-en^ 
gines ;  general  working  of  lead  and  coal  mines  in  the  Uni*J 
ted  States.  !      // 

1833,  gum  elastic  boots,  shoes,  and  cloths.  The  amount^ 
of  money  saved  in  the  use  of  these  articles  is  great — prob-' 
ably  far  beyond  the  estimate  of  any  one  who  has  not  raadfr 
a  careful  examination  of  the  subject.  r  ,     ..l! 


*  His  reward  for  his  unwearied  exertions,  and  his  self-sacrificeg  for  the 
public  benefit,  i^is  tnie,  came  late  ;  but  now,  it  seems,  as  if  the  French  peopfei 
could  not  d6  too  much  to  immortalize  his  name.  The  town  of  Mouraidieri' 
in  the  department  of  Soinme,  in  France,  a  little  over  a  year  a^o,  wer^ 
erecting  a  bronze  statue  to  the  memory  of  this  illustrious  pnilosopTier,  who' 
introduced  the  culture  and  use  of  the  potatoe  into  France  ;  thus  venfyipg' 
the  prediction  of  the  unfortunate  Louis  XVI,  who  obsers'ed  to  Pamien'tier, 
during  the  height,  of  his  strusdes  in  the  labour  of  love:  "France  wiU  thank 
you  one  day  for  ha\'ina:  found  bread  for  the  poor."  .       ):;; 

The  najue  of  the  Citizen  King,  Louis  Philippe,  heads  the  stvbscription  &i 
he  erection  of  this  memorial  of  public  gratitude ;  and  it  is  followed  by  the 
principal  scientific  and  agricultural  societies  in  that  kingdom,,  and  aleq  by' 
the  most  distinguished  friends  of  science  and  humanity.  Subscriptions 
were  likewise  opened  in  every  district  in  France,  so  that  all  might  join  in 
testifying  their  respect  for  the  memory  of  Parmentier. 


14 

But  what  truly  astonishing  results  have  the  last  fifty 
years  produced  in  our  country!  A  half  century  since  and 
cities,  now  full  of  thousands  of  souls,  were  the  hunting 
grounds  of  the  Indians,  and  covered  only  Wita  the  forest  or 
swamp.  Fifty  years  ago  and  the  city  of  iNew-York  had 
but  about  33,1)00  inhabitants,  and  has  now  near  350,000. 
Brooklyn,  her  adjunct  then  had  but  a  population  of  250 
souls,  and  now  nuniii)ers  about  50,000.  Jioston,  then  18,000 
inhabitants,  has  now  near  100,000.  Baltimore,  which 
then  possessed  but  13,000  people,  now  has  100,000;  and 
Philadelphia,  with  a  population  then  numbering  40,000, 
has  now  about  280,000.  What  an  increase  in  population, 
wealth,  and  power  has  been  added  to  our  country  in  one 
short  half  century  !  The  world  has  no  parallel  to  it  in  its 
history. 

Fifty  years  ago  and  we  had  nothing  of  the  gigantic  pow- 
ers of  steam;  no  steamboats  stenuning  the  currents  of  our 
rivers,  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  an  hour ;  and 
no  rail  roads  traversing  our  land  in  every  direction  at  a 
speed  of  from  12  to  30  miles  an  hour  :  formerly,  before  the 
use  of  steam  upon  our  waters,  it  sometimes  occupied  a 
"w^eek  and  even  a  longer  time,  in  passing  from  New-York  to 
Albany,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles;  but  now 
in  the  great  resolution  produced  by  the  march  of  science, 
the  steam-packet-ship,  Britannia,  which  arrived  in  Boston 
from  the  port  of  Liverpool  a  few  days  since,  in  that  pas- 
sage lost  sight  of  the  British  coast,  and  made  the  coast  of 
Newfoundland,  in  just  seven  days  ;  one  week  in  crossing 
the  Atlantic.  Fifty  years  ago  the  worthy  fathers  and 
mothers  of  the  present  generation  were  willing  to  dress  in 
their  own  homespun  fabrics  ;  the  busy  wheel  was  whirring 
by  their  firesides,  the  knitting  needles  were  plied,  and 
wool  woven  in  the  house,  and  the  finer  cloths  dressed  at 
the  fulling  mill  of  the  neighborhood, — all  which  has  given 
way  to  the  spacious  and  magnificent  factories  of  the  pre- 
sen^day.  Time  is  now  too  valuable,  with  the  majority  of 
the  people,  to  be  occupied  as  then,  in  work  which  can  be 
better  and  cheaper  done  by  machinery. 

And  the  waterfall  and  the  steam  engine,  with  the  im- 
proved spindles  and  other  machines  now  supply  the  labour 
of  thousands,  and  manufacture  millions  of  yards  of  cloths, 
cotton  goods,  etc.,  w^here  half  a  century  since  only  a  few 
hundreds  were  made. 

In  all  this  advance  of  science,  agriculture  and  its  imple- 
ments have  been  concerned  and  have  participated  ;  from 
1793  to  1830,  the  plough  has  been  made  to  undergo  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  improvements,  and  one  hundred 
and  nineteen  thrashing  machines  were  invented  during  the 
same  period. 


15 

Thus  Imve  we  progressed,  not  only  in  the  arts  but  also 
in  the  luxuries  of  life.  A  little  more  than  two  hundred 
years  ago  sugar  was  kept  for  sale  only  in  the  shop 
of  the  apothecary;  now,  the  annual  consumption  in  the 
United  States  alone  is  eighty  millions  of  pounds!  It 
is  almost  startling^  to  look  forwi.rd  to  the  comine:  half 
century,  and  to  estimate  our  progress  for  the  future  at 
any  thing  like  that  of  the  past.  Where  it  may  terminate 
human  judgment  cannot  foresee;  but  we  have  the  assu- 
rance of  Almighty  wisdom  for  the  belief,  that  mankind 
are  now  proo-ressing  to  a  state  of  perfection  which  the 
world  has  never  as  yet  known  ;  how  long  it  may  be  before 
we  arrive  at  that  state — what  trials  and  conflicts  we  may 
nationally  and  individually  be  called  upon  to  pass  through 
before  we  attain  it, — we  must  and  should  leave  to  his  Om- 
niscience. 

The  improvement  of  agriculture  in  this  great  march  of 
knowledge  has  been  in  a  high  degree  owing  to  the  in- 
creased amount  of  geological  information  abroad  in  the 
world,  which  science,  together  with  astronomy,  as  they 
now  present  themselves  to  an  inquiring  mind,  possesses  a 
more  overpowering  immensity  than  all  the  other  branches 
of  human  knowledge.  The  first  informs  us  that  the  earth 
produced  plants  and  animals  at  one  time,  when  the  very 
stones  of  the  oldest  ruins  which  now  exist  were  only  mud 
or  sand,  and  of  a  gigantic  form  and  order  almost  incom- 
prehensible. Astronomy  also  teaches  us  that  the  sun  of 
our  system  with  the  orbs  that  ceaselessly  wheel  around  it, 
form  but  a  very  small  and  almost  insignificant  portion  of 
the  great  and  immense  system  of  creation,  with  which 
they  are  connected,  and  that  our  whole  solar  system  is 
itself  revolving  around  some  unknown  centre,  and  that 
with  a  rapidity  almost  unappreciable.  It  has  been  ascer- 
tained within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  that  our  whole 
solar  system,  as  one  body  is  passing  with  almost  incon- 
ceivable velocity,  in  the  direction  of  the  constellation  Her- 
cules, which  passage,  it  is  evident,  cannot  take  place  at 
hap-hazard  and  by  chance,  through  the  spheres  of  the  vari- 
ous other  luminaries  of  the  heavens,  but  must  be  made  up- 
on some  orbit  regularly  settled  and  defined,  although  our 
knowledge  is  not  now  sufficient  to  ascertain  the  extent 
and  shape  of  that  orbit,  and  the  history  of  man's  observa- 
tion is  spread  over  too  brief  a  space  of  time  to  enable  us  to 
ascertain  its  progress  in  this  vast  revolution.  The  prece- 
ding may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  astronomy ; 
its  sister  science,  geology,  exhibits  numerous  facts,  equally 
calculated  to  excite  our  astonishment. 

In  that  formation  in  geology,  known  as  the  lias,  being 
the  first  richly  fossil  formation  overlaying  the  more  ancient 


16 

one  of  the  old  red  sand  stone,  we  discover,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  geological  system,  indications  of  a  change  of 
seasons  ;  the  frosts  of  winter  had  not  as  yet  made  their  ap- 
pearance in  the  world,  all  seems  to  have  been  Spring  and 
Suminer  before  throughout  the  whole  globe,  and  thai; -for 
ages  :  and  now  many  ages  after,  we  find  in  this  lias  forma- 
tion, the  footsteps  of  Winter,  impressed  amid  the  lignites 
of  Cromarty ;  and  there  you  may  see  the  alternations  of 
Summer-heats  and  Winter-cold  as  distinctly  marked,  for 
the  first  tiine^  in  the  age  of  the  world,  as  in  the  trees  of 
our  forests.-  Before  Winter  began  to  take  its  place  among 
the  seasons,  the  fish,  fitted  for  living  in  a  highly  heated 
medium,  disappeared  ;  they  were  created,  as  is  agreed 
.by  all  distinguished-  geologists  of  the  present  day,  to  in- 
habit a  thermal  ocean,  and  died  away  as  it  cooled  down  ; 
and  so  in  the  same  manner  disappeared  gradually  our  gigan- 
tic palms  and  vegetables,  and  our  immense  animals,  lor 
this  change  was  a  work  of  time  ;  they  had  performed  the 
part  allotted  by  the  Creator,  and  having  finished  their 
task,  they  rested  from  their  labors.* 

•  These  changes  have  not  been  confined  to  the  ocean, 
but  have  progressed  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  crea- 
tion ;  eritire  races  of  animals  and  plants  have  disappeared, 
as  the  form  of  the  earth's  surface  and  the  degree  of  heat 
upon  it,  became  ill  adapted  to  their  wants  ;  and  others  of  a 
different  class  came  in  and  supplied  their  places,  as  is 
teanifesf,  in  many  striking  instances.  '        ,  ..       • 

Our  own  country  exhibits  some  curious  examples  of  this 
^eat  change.  In  excavating  the  canal  at  Zanesville,  in 
•Ohio,  numerous  impressions  of  tropical  and  other  plants 
were  found.  Among  them  were  the  leaves  of  the  cocoa  nut 
tree,  the  bearing  palm  leaf  twenty  inches  in  length,  the  roots, 
trunks,  limbs,  and  leaves,  of  the  bamboo ;  the  trunks, 
limbs,  leaves,  and  even  the  blossoms  of  the  cassia ;  the 
cinnamon  tree ;  the  petals  even  of  these  blossoms  were 
entire,  and  uninjured,  showing^^MMiclusively  that  they 
igTew  near  the  spot  where  they  were  found.  But  what 
immense  changes  must  have  taken  place  in  our  climate 
since  the  cocoa  nut  and  the  cinnamon  tr€e  flourished  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Ohio  ! 

'  Still  greater  and  more  astonishing  chajiges  must  have  hap- 
pened since  the  animals  of  the  fervid  zone  lived  and  flour- 
ashed  within  what  is  now  the  Arctic  Circle  :  that  they  did 
«o  at  some  former  age  is  evident  from  the  numerous  discov- 
;eries  made  there  within  the  last  century.  The  whole  soil 
of  the  first  of  the  Lachone  Islands  appears  to  consist  of  the 


■*See  Hueh  Miller's  "Old  Red  Sand  Stone  of  ScotUnd  ;  or,  New  Walks 
'jnuirOWFidd."  ■ 


17 

remains  of  the  elephant,,  mastadon,  and  the  mammoth. 
For  about  eighty  years  the  fur  hunters  have  yearly  brought 
cargoes  from  this  island,  and  as  yet  there  is  no  sensible 
diminutipn  of  the  stock;  they  maintain  that  when  the 
sea, recedes,  af);er  a  long  continuance  of  easterly  winds, 
a  fresh  supply  of  these  bones  is  always  found  to  have 
been  washed  upon  the  shore,  proceeding,  apparentiy, 
from  some  vast  store  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea ;  as  if. 
some  large  tract  of  land,  enjoying  the  advantages  of 
a  warm  climate,  and  inhabited  by  an  immense  number 
of  animals,  by  some  mighty  convulsion,  had  been  instant- 
ly submerged  by  the  ocean. 

The  Faroe  Islands,  lying  between  the  Orkney  Islands 
and  the  Arctic  Circle,  afford  another  singular  instance  of  this, 
change.  ..On  these  islands  there  is  now  no  wood  grow- 
ing, an4  h^s  not  been  a,ny  for  a  very  long  period  of  time, 
which  is  attributed  to  the  cold,  high  winds,  and  the  salt 
fogs  from  the  sea  ;  and  yet,  the  great  number  of  large  birc.h 
tre^s  found  in  the  naosses  on  those  islands,  proye  that  they 
formerly  grew  and. thrived  there.  And  so  ^lso,we  learn 
from  Dr.  Aikin,  that  although  the  Fens  of  Ely,  in  ^J}g-, 
land,  now  produce  nothing  but  osiers  and  willows,  yetthq 
bodies  of  oaks  of  large  dimensions,  and  other  trees  are 
frequently  dug  up  in  the  Jowest  and  wettest  tracts,  which, 
proves  that  this  extensive  section  of  country  which  now; 
requires  a  continued  and  active  drainage  to  make  it  habit-r, 
able,  at  some  remote  period  was  well  wooded,  and  was, 
probably,  in  great  part  a  forest. 

Does  not  all  this  prove  that  the  earth,  at  some  former 
period,  enjoyed  a  higher  degree  of  temperature,  than  alf 
present,  and  presented  a  very  different  aspect  than  that  of 
its  present  appearance  1  ;  .      i 

But  for  one  further  proof,  let  me  refer  to  Iceland,  a  coua-j 
try,  icertainly  cold  and  bleak  enough  at  present.  On  both 
the  eastern  and  western  coasts  of  this  island,  are  fountj 
beds  of  bituminous  wood,  which  the  natives  call  surtwn 
brand,  burnt  wood.  They  also  find  there  a  grey  colored 
slate  containing  very  many  impressions  of  leaves,  exhibit-t 
ing  in  a  most  beautiful  manner,  all  their  veins,  ribs,  ancl 
fibres.  Among  these  are  the  leaves  of  the  willow,  birch 
arid  oak,  some  of  the  latter  as  large  as  a  man's  hand,  anq 
also  the  leaves  of  the  common  poplar,  a  native  of  thq- 
warm  plains  of  Lombardy.  Most  of  the  wood  appear^ 
like  large  trunks  of  trees,  on  which  the  marks  of  branches^ 
five  or  six  inches  in  diameter,  are  found.  These  remainsF- 
are  found  in  clay,  interposed  between  them  and  the  trap 
rocks,  formed  by  the  tremendous  volcanic  eruptions,  t& 
which  that  island  has  been  subject  to  from  the  most  disr 
tant  ages,  and  the  force  of  the  compressions  hag  been  so 


18 


immense  as  to  compress  trees  a  foot  in  diameter  into  their 
plates. 

What  a  change  in  the  earth  must  have  taken  place  since 
the  period  when  those  trees  grew  in  Iceland,  where  now 
nothing  thrives  but  a  stunted  willow,  two  or  three  feet 
high  ! 

Some  who  have  not  paid  much  attention  to  the  great 
changes  which  have  taken  place  in  our  earth,  suppose  these 
trees  to  have  been  drift  wood,  which  is  not,  in  my  judg- 
ment, a  very  reasonable  suj)position,  as  they  are  found,  in 
many  instances,  far  from  the  shore  and  elevated  hundreds 
of  feet  above  it;  and  they  find  no  drift  wood  of  the  species 
of  trees  existing  in  the  present  day,  with  their  leaves  and 
branches  so  fresh  and  perfect,  cast  upon  their  shores.  And 
what  more  extraordinary  is  it,  let  me  ask,  that  those  trees 
should  have  grown  in  Iceland,  than  it  is,  that  the  forests  of 
birch  trees  should  have  grown  upon  the  now  barren  Faroe 
Isles  :  or  the  oaks  in  the  watery  Fens  of  Ely  ;  or  the  cin- 
namon tree,  the  bamboo,  the  palm,  and  the  cocoa  nut 
should  have  grown  in  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio?  How  these 
changes  were  produced,  is  an  interesting  inquiry.  These 
facts  separately,  but  not  in  a  connected  view,  have  long 
excited  the  attention  of  the  curious,  and  theory,  contra- 
dicting theory,  has  been  formed  and  again  abandoned  in 
the  endeavour  lo  point  out  some  adequate  cause  for  these 
great  results,  until  at  last  many  have  abandoned  the  task 
as  hopeless,  and  have  contented  themselves  to  regard  these 
matters  as  being  inexplicable. 

The  error  with  most  of  us  has  been,  that  we  have 
looked  upon  this  little  spot  of  earth,  on  this  mere  speck 
in  the  Almighty's  great  creation,  for  the  cause  of  all  these 
revolutions  ;  and  we  have  have  had  our  bold  theories,  as 
they  were  sometimes  termed,  of  the  action  of  fire  and 
water  as  contained  in  the  globe  itself,  w^hen  in  truth  they 
were  but  the  agents  acted  upon  by  some  great  cause  with- 
out; or,  at  the  best  and  the  farthest,  w^e  have  extended  our 
vision  to  the  sun  as  the  centre  of  our  system,  and  as  being 
the  only  body  acting  upon  us ;  and  then  talked  about  its 
attraction,  and  descanted  wisely  and  learnedly,  as  w-e  sup- 
posed, of  the  changing  of  the  poles  of  the  earth,  and  by 
this  means  placing  part  of  our  temperate  regions  with  the 
frozen  seas  under  the  fervid  rays  of  an  equatorial  sun  ;  but 
the  advocates  for  that  system  seem  not  to  have  adverted  to 
the  fact,  and  a  most  important  one  it  is,  that  w^hile  we  find 
the  remains  of  the  elephant  in  Siberia,  and  even  almost 
under  the  North  Pole,  and  forests  of  the  palm  tree  in 
France  and  Germany,  the  cinnamon  tree  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Ohio,  and  tropical  plants  with  the  crocodile  in 
England  :  none  of  the  remains  of  either  animal  or  vegeta- 


19 

ble  life  peculiar  to  the  Arctic  Regions,  have  ever  been 
found  in  the  tropics  or  any  where  else,  except  as  modern 
deposits  in  the  icy  regions,  above  the  more  ancient  relics 
of  a  warmer  clime  ;  and,  also,  that  the  first  appearance  of 
Winter  in  the  earth's  history  is  registered  by  the  hand  of 
the  Almighty  in  his  eternal  record,  which  cannot  be  fal- 
sified. 

In  my  judgment,  the  explanation  of  the  cause  of  these 
great  changes  and  convulsions  which  have  taken  place  in 
our  world,  is  to  be  found  in  the  revolution  of  the  whole  solar 
system,  as  one  mass,  to  which  I  adverted  when  speaking 
of  astronomy.  We  have  only  to  suppose,  as  almost  every 
thing  about  us  would  seem  to  indicate,  for  all  the  orbits 
of  the  planets  are  elliptical,  that  this  immense  revolution 
is  also  performed  upon  an  elliptical  orbit,  and  it  must  be 
evident,  that  at  some  very  distant  period  of  time,  the  earth, 
with  the  rest  of  the  solar  system,  must  have  been  at  a 
point  of  that  great  orbit,  which  placed  it  comparatively 
near,  and  under  the  active  influence  of  some  immense 
central  body,  of  the  size  and  influence  of  which,  our  sun  will 
scarcely  afford  the  slightest  conception,  (for  such  a  revolu- 
tion of  the  whole  solar  system,  as  is  admitted  to  be  now 
making,  a  moment's  consideration  wnll  show,  cannot  be 
made  unless  it  be  around  some  central  body  proportioned 
to  the  size  of  the  bodies  revolving,)  the  heat  and  vivify- 
ing properties  of  which  would  induce  a  monstrous  growth 
of  animals  and  vegetables,  the  remains  of  which  we  now 
discover,  which  increase  of  size  was  gradual,  as  the  orbit 
was  travelled  over  until  it  arrived  at  its  maximum,  when 
an  universal  equatorial  heat  pervaded  the  whole  world,  as 
is  proved  by  the  fossil  remains  found  on  and  in  every  part 
of  it,  and  that  as  the  whole  system  receded  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  orbit  from  this  great  centre,  the  heat  would 
gradually  decrease,  and  with  it  the  size  of  animals  and 
vegetables  ;  but  the  utmost  limit  of  that  orbit  is  probably 
not  so  far  distant  from  its  centre,  as  to  cause  a  total 
destruction  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  or  to  deprive  the 
earth  of  its  torrid  zone  near  its  centre,  and  this  passage 
from  the  centre  would  also  serve  to  recruit  the  earth,  and 
to  enable  it,  when  it  again  reaches  a  certain  point  of  that 
great  orbit,  to  sustain  animal  and  vegetable  life  through- 
out its  whole  extent,  as  it  appears  to  have  done  at  some 
former  period  ;  and  also  the  approach  to  and  the  depar- 
ture from  this  centre  must  inevitably  cause  great  natural 
convulsions,  by  the  earth  being  greatly  heated  in  ap- 
proaching towards  it,  and  cooling  down  when  it  recedes 
from  it. 

This,  in  my  opinion,  explains  the  finding  of  tropical 
fruits  and  animals  all  over  the  globe.     This  is  my  theory  : 


20 

one  on  which  I  have  thought  much  and  patiently,  and  it  is 
the  only  one  which  is  at  all  reconciliable  with  the  numer- 
ous facts  which  modern  geology  has  brought  to  light ;  and 
this  is  perfectly  consistent  with  all  of  them.  On  jio  other 
syste;m  than  this  of  an  elliptical  revolution,  around  some 
impiensely  greater  centre  than  our  sun,  can  be  explained, 
those  curious  facts  which  have  been  recently  brought  to 
light  by  the  investigations  of  M.  Agassiz  among  the  gla- 
ciers of  Switzerland.  That  such  an  immense  centre  as  I 
ha\;e  spoken  of  may,  and  probably  does,  exist,  we  will 
the  more  readily  believe  when  w^e  recollect,  that  as  large 
as  our  sun  is,  as  immense  in  size  as  it  is,  compared  with 
our  earth  and  the  other  planets  of  our  particular  system, 
yet  it  bears  no  proportion  to  sonie  others  of  the  fixed  stars, 
the  suns  of  other  systems;  as,  for  instance,  the  star,  Alpha, 
in  the  constellation,  Lyra.  That  one  star  is  well  ascer- 
tained by  the  geometrical  problem  of  the  parallex,  to  be 
nearly  as  large  as  the  whole  of  the  known  solar  systeoi^if 
this  system  was  formed  into  a  solid  sphere  !  HereiWe  have 
alone,  a  sun  sufficiently  large  to  produce  all  the  effects 
which  I  have  ascribed  to  the  great  centre  operating  upon 
Qur  system.  What  an  immense  body  must  that  star.  Al- 
pha, be !  The  conceiving  of  the  idea  alone  is  almost 
overwhelming.  What  pigmies! — mere  nothings  ! — we  are 
"vvhen  w^e  regard  the  immensity  of  creation  !* 
il'Thus  I  have  exhibited  to  your  view  some  of  the  aston- 
ishing discoveries  of  modern  geology,  a  science  intimately 
connected  with  agriculture,  and  which  is  destined  to  pour 
untold  wealth  into  the  hands  of  the  farmers,  if  they  will 
only  attend  to  its  instructions.  In  it,  however,  I  have 
given  you  a  very  concise  statement  of  the  facts,  for  this  is 
not  the  place,  and  neither  would  time  permit,  to  enter  upon 
tiiis  noble  and  interesting  theme  at  large.     We  must  still, 

•*Thi3  view  of  the  changes  produced  in  our  earth,  and  the  cause  operating 
10  produce  those  changes,  I  first  gave  to  the  public  five  or  six  years  ago,  in 
epme  lectures  which  I  delivered  at  the  request  of  literary  associations  in 
oiti'erent  places ;  but  it  was  long  before  I  met  with  anything  lilie  support  in 
fliS  principle  I  had  thus  adbptea.    It  is,  therefore,  with  no  slight  gratitication 

?!iat  I  now  see  some  celebrated  men  of  Europe  turning  their  eyes  in  the 
ame  direction  ;  they  sought  for,  and  examined  the  causes  operating  in 
tfie  earth  itself,  until  they  became  satisfied  that  they  were  inadequate  to  the 
results  produced,  and  have  been  obliged  to  look  for  those  causes  beyond,  the 
Boundaries  of  our  globe,  Thus,  Professor  Nichols,  of  Glasgow,  the  celebra- 
Hd  author  of"  The  Architecture  of  the  Heavens,"' in  his  last  Work,  entitled 
".Contemplations  on  the  Solar  Systeip.,"  second  edition,  Edinburgh,  1844, 
page  151,  after  remarking  upon  the  usual  method  of  explaining  the  niighty' 
convulsions  and  changes  which  our  earth  has  experienced!  exclaimed : 
"How  utterly  the  whole  fair  speculation  vanishes  before  one  glance  into  the 
universe  farther  than  our  own  door  steps  !"'  and  he  concludes  with  the  wise 
r«commendation  s  ^'Ply  thy  hammer,  geologist !  continue  to  plv  it  well ;  but 
sometimes,  also,  look  through  the  telescope."  This  is,  indeed,  a  wise 
recommendation,  and  if  followed  up  by  a  connection  of  astronomy  with  ge- 
ology, it  will  cause  most  of  the  difficulties  which  at  present  attend  tha  ex- 
planation of  geological  discoveries,  to  vanish  like  oust  before  th^  fjsing 
sua.  ''"■' 


however,  bear  in  mind,  that  notwithstanding  all  the  ad- 
vance made  in  geology,  all  the  wonders  exhibited  to  our 
sight  and  our  imagination,  we  are  as  yet  upon  the  thresh- 
old of  the  great  temple  of  creation,  and  can  only  hope  to 
realize  its  benefits  by  a  continued  and  active  prosecution 
of  its  study. 

Agriculture  also  exhibits  its  curious  and  surprising  phe- 
nomena, independent  of  geology,  and  some  of  which  are 
as  worthy  of  attention  and  curious  research. 

Among  the  phenomena  is  the  interesting  fact,  that  seeds 
will  retain  their  germinating  principle,  if  covered  from  the 
action  of  the  atmosphere,  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time  ; 
as  is  evident  from  facts  of  frequent  occurrence. 

Let  any  one  dig  down  into  a  bed  of  mere  gravel  or  sand 
forty  feet  or  more,  in  the  month  of  November  or  Decem- 
ber, and  throw  up  the  gravel  or  sand  from  the  lowest 
depth,  and  spread  it  out  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere, 
the  next  Spring  it  will  be  covered  by  a  thin  coating  of 
grass,  which  could  only  be  caused  by  the  seed  which  had 
remained  in  the  ground  at  that  great  depth,  germinating 
upon  being  brought  to  the  surface,  so  as  to  enable  the  de- 
gree of  heat  necessary  for  that  process.  People  frequently 
labor  under  a  great  mistake  as  to  what  is  soil ;  they  gene- 
rally suppose  it  to  be  confined  to  within  a  foot  or  18  inches 
of  the  surface,  whereas  the  truth  is,  if  they  turn  up  the 
poorest  sand,  gravel  or  clay,  from  any  depth,  however 
great,  and  expose  it  to  the  chemical  action  of  the  atmos- 
phere for  a  single  wanter,  it  becomes  soil ;  of  course  the 
longer  it  remains  so  exposed,  the  better  it  becomes.  The 
fault  is  in  not  ploughing  or  digging  deep  enough  ;  for  by 
ploughing  deep,  they  may  make  any  depth  of  soil  they 
please,  when,  by  their  ordinary  shallow  ploughing,  they 
confine  their  soil  to  within  18  inches  of  the  surface. 

A  most  striking  instance  of  the  vitality  of  ancient  seed, 
was  manifested  in  France,  in  1832,  where  a  gentleman 
planted  a  quantity  of  seed  wheat  from  an  Egyptian  mum- 
my. It  sprouted,  and  was  growing  with  vigor,  although 
it  was  ascertained  to  be  two  thousand  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  old.  It  was  precisely  like  our  ordinary  wheat, 
and  served  to  show  the  identity  of  the  corn  of  the  ancients 
with  our  gi*ain,  and  it  also  upset  the  notion  that  wheat 
was  once  nothing  but  cheat,  and  owes  its  present  differ- 
ence from  it  to  cultivation. 

Another  and  even  an  older  instance  of  this  Egyptian 
wheat  occurred  in  England,  where,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
East  Suffolk  Agricultural  Association,  in  1838,  a  sample 
of  wheat  was  presented,  grown  from  seeds  taken  from  an 
Egyptian  mummy,  which  was  said  to  have  been  encased 
three  thousand  five  hundr?d  years  ! 


-yj 


It  was  exhibited  by  W'ra.  Long,  lllse-j.,  of  Hart  IIhII,  and 
was  white  wheat,  the  ears  of  which  were  considerably 
larger  and  broader  than  the  ears  of  English  wheat,  ap- 
pearing to  grow  double  on  one  stem,  and  the  straw  was 
long  and  stout.  The  practice  of  the  ancient  Egyptians 
was  to  enclose  grains  of  wheat  in  the  mummy  cases 
before  depositing  them  in  their  resting  places;  but  that 
the  wheat  should  retain  its  vital  principle  through  so  many 
ages,  is  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  those  great  wonders  in 
the  economy  of  nature,  which  baffles  the  skill  of  man  to 
solve.  Much  indeed  has  been  done  for  the  advance- 
ment of  science,  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  and  for 
the  cause  of  natural  history  generally,  during  the  present 
century,  and  the  exertions  which  have  Ijeen  thus  made  will 
confer  honor  and  distinction  upon  their  promoters  for  ages 
to  come.  To  no  one  individual  do  we  owe  more  for  his 
labours  and  exertions  in  this  noble  held,  than  to  a  native 
of  our  own  Island,  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell ;  a 
name  which  will  live  and  be  honoured  by  posterity ;  in- 
deed every  succeeding  age  will  add  to  the  appreciation  of 
his  unwearied  life  in  the  prosecution  of  science.  For  a 
long  period  he  was  almost  alone  in  the  pursuit  of  his  favo- 
rite studies,  having  but  few  who  felt  a  real  and  active  sym- 
pathy with  him. 

It  was  indeed  difficult  to  convince  the  people  generally 
that  inquiries  of  natural  history  were  of  any  advantage  in 
their  business  pursuits  ;  they  thought  it  might  do  well 
enough  for  a  man  who  was  independent  in  his  circumstan- 
ces and  had  no  particular  business  occupation  to  devote 
his  time  to  such  pursuits,  but  otherwise  they  esteemed  it 
both  a  waste  of  time  and  money.  He  had,  however,  the 
gratification  to  see  first  one  and  then  another  association 
rising  up  into  existence,  for  the  furtherance  of  those  par- 
ticular objects  which  he  had  so  much  at  heart,  and  now, 
if  as  some  wise  and  holy  men  have  believed,  the  happy 
spirits  in  another  state  of  existence  experience  high  pleas- 
ure in  observing  the  good  actions  of  mankind,  with  what 
delight  must  he  witness  those  pursuits  in  which  he  took 
so  great  an  interest  when  living,  now  prosecuting  not  only 
by  individual  enterprise,  but  also  fostered  and  encouraged 
by  the  Government  itself,  in  the  several  geological  sur- 
veys which  have  been  made  of  different  States,  and  in 
the  aid  which  has  been  given  towards  the  establishment  of 
agricultural  associations. 

The  memory  of  Dr.  Mitchell  should  be  cherished  by  us 
especially  ;  his  name  is  identified  with  researches  of  which 
we  are  now  reaping  the  advantages,  and  his  life  was 
Spent  in  advancing  the  interests  of  his  fellow-men  ;   such 


4,0 


a  man  is  worthy  of  all  coiauicndation,  and  for  example's 
sake  should  not  be  forgotten. 

The  farmer  is  truly  the  lord  of  the  soil,  and  his  position 
in  society  the  most  independent  of  all  its  members.  The 
leisure  which  Winter  a flfords  from  the  labours  of  agriculture 
gives  him  an  opportunity  for  storing  his  mind  with  useful 
knowledge,  which  few,  very  few,  in  tlie  active  pursuits  of 
life  can  ever  hope  to  gain.  There  is  every  opportunity  for 
him  in  this  country  to  take  the  lead  in  all  the  affairs  of  the 
nation  if  he  chooses  so  to  do. 

But  to  occupy  such  a  position  with  honor  to  himself  and 
advantage  to  those  interests  which  he  dearly  cherishes,  l.e 
must  cultivate  his  intellect,  and  in  no  way  can  he  do  this 
more  effectually,  than  following  up  the  study  of  natural 
history,  so  intimately  connected  with  his  agricultural  pur- 
suits. Every  step  taken  in  such  a  course  of  study  will 
open  new  beauties  until  the  mind  becomes  perfectly  fasci- 
nated with  that,  which  at  first  might  have  been  regarded 
as  a  task.  The  whole  man  becomes  changed  ;  his  nobler 
faculties  and  pleasing  traits  of  character  become  more  and 
more  predominant  over  the  others,  until  at  last  the  latter 
are  entirely  hidden  from  his  view. 

It  has  been  said  that  angels  can  read  songs  and  anthems, 
glorious  themes  of  praise  to  the  Most  High  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  flowers  upon  the  surface  of  our  earth.  The 
delighted  student  of  natural  science  will  find  this  practi- 
cally true  ;  the  small  flower  of  the  meadow,  which  he  had 
before  probably  passed  hundreds  of  times,  without  notice, 
will  now  afford  him  more  ennobling  conceptions  of  the 
Deity,  more  heartfelt  gratitude  for  the  bounties  and  beau- 
ties so  profusely  spread  before  him,  than  he  had  ever  be- 
fore attained  from  any  source. 

I  am  willing  to  be  thought  enthusiastic  on  such  a  sub- 
ject, but  let  me  commend  it  to  the  practical  use  of  each  of 
you  who  now  hear  me  ;  try  it  for  youselves,  and  I  will 
then  venture  to  assert  that  you  will,  when  fairly  initiated, 
rather  think  that  I  have  been  tame  instead  of  glow-ing  in 
my  description  of  the  advantages  resulting  from  such  a 
course  of  vStudy. 

The  value  of  a  continued  and  active  exercise  of  the  men- 
tal faculties  will  be  properly  appreciated,  w^hen  we  consi- 
der that  this  ennobling  principle  was  given  us  for  the  pur- 
pose of  directing  and  controlling  our  powers  and  animal 
propensities,  and  for  bringing  them  into  that  subjection 
whereby  they  become  beneficial  to  the  individual  and  to 
the  world  at  large  ;  enabling  him  to  exchange  with  others 
those  results  which  the  power  of  his  own,  and  the  gigan- 
tic efforts  of  other  minds,  have  developed  and  bringing 
into  action  those  characteristics  of  social  life,  and  those  af- 


24 

fections  which  alone  are  calculated  to  make  our  present 
state  of  being  happy. 

Independently  of  the  utility  of  study,  what  a  world  of 
delight,  hidden  from  the  view  of  the  mass  of  mankind,  is 
opened  to  the  mental  vision  of  him,  who  has  devoted  a 
portion  of  his  time  to  the  investigation  of  the  truths  of 
science.  The  prosecution  of  such  studies,  however  labo- 
rious in  the  outset,  soon  become  their  own  reward,  in  the 
overflowing  pleasures  they  create. 

One  great  advantage  of  associations,  like  the  present,  is 
that  a  desire  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is  kindly 
fostered  and  brought  to  a  maturity  which  developes  itself 
for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  They  also  create  and  encour- 
age a  spirit  of  inquiry,  which  is  of  the  highest  moment. 
For  without  a  desire  of  knowing  the  designs  and  proces- 
ses of  things,  no  investigation  will  be  bestowed,  and  we 
will  remain  in  ignorance  of  all,  but  the  bare  facts  and 
gross  perceptions  of  creation  ;  nor  can  it  be  questioned 
but  that  the  more  extensive  our  acquaintance  is  with  the 
objects  of  Providence,  in  the  same  proportion  must  be  our 
convictions  of  the  justice,  wisdom,  and  power  of  the  Al- 
mighty Creator. 

It  is  an  old  proverb,  that  he  who  aims  at  the  sun  to 
be  sure  will  not  reach  it,  but  his  arrow  wull  fly  higher  than 
if  he  had  aimed  at  an  object  on  a  level  with  himself;  just 
so  should  it  be  in  the  establishment  of  all  associations  of 
this  character,  set  your  standard  high,  and  though  you 
may  not  reach  it  at  first,  you  will  not  fail  to  raise  higher 
than  if  you  had  aimed  at  some  inferior  grade  of  usefulness. 
Who  can  say  what  may  be  the  result,  when  each  individ- 
ual of  this  and  similar  associations,  shall  go  forth  in  their 
strength  imbued  with  a  high  moral  principle,  to  the  great 
work  of  enlightening  the  public  mind  ;  when  they  view 
tiieir  societies  as  the  means  of  blessing  the  community,  as 
well  as  of  benefitting  themselves,  and  when  they  exert 
their  abilities  in  scattering  around  them  that  taste  for 
knowledge  which  they  have  learned  to  appreciate.  If 
each  one  will  bear  this  in  mind,  and  also  that  he  owes,  as 
a  duty  to  his  country,  his  aid  in  this  matter,  the  conse- 
quence will  be  triumphant  for  the  cause  of  science. 


THE    END. 


F  LTRR  V^y 


A     000  564  933     0 


